


here and now

by emmram



Category: DCU, Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Cuddles, Gen, jason todd being jason todd off screen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 05:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16655020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmram/pseuds/emmram
Summary: Dick Grayson is jaded and doubting and frequently oblivious, but he is Trying His Best.aka: the team that cuddles together, stays together.SPOILERS till 1.06.





	here and now

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: SPOILERS till 1.06: Jason Todd. Set some indefinite time after that ep. Some swearing. My first attempt at these character voices, so let me know if they’re off.

By the time Dick Grayson’s (finally, _finally_ ) alone in his room, all he can think of is stripping off his costume, sinking into a hot bath, and sleeping for two weeks straight. It’s been a rough couple of days and he’s exhausted as all hell, so the world will have to make do without him swinging in in skin-tight spandex for a bit. Maybe a whole day will go by without something going FUBAR. It’s a nice thought.

( _the world doesn’t owe you anything, dick_ , a voice whispers in the back of his mind, sounding suspiciously like Bruce. _shut up_ , he tells the voice.)

He peels off his Kevlar and bodysuit in stiff increments, debates the merits of hobbling towards the bathroom and getting this motel’s shitty hot water to work versus flopping onto the bed that’s… right _there_ , then nixes both ideas in favour of grabbing an old sweatshirt and pants while checking his phone.

Five voice messages, all from Jason. Well, now.

He starts playing them on speaker while he changes. _Hey, Dick_ , Jason says, voice all belligerence and bravado, and Dick is almost too tired to deal with this now. Almost. _I can’t believe you make people leave you voicemails instead of reading texts like a normal person. Like, dude. I can even picture you brooding at the window, listening to voicemails on speaker in an empty room like you’re a maudlin heroine from a movie that came out in, like, 1980 or something._

Dick scowls at the phone and steps away from the window.

_Actually, you know what? This is ridiculous. Read my texts, weirdo._

Beep. _And maybe reply to them once in a while? I know you’re busy with your team, but it would be cool if we could meet up soon. I mean, I guess. Um._

Beep. _Or not. Fuck you._

Beep. _Sorry about that. It’s just—Big B’s acting weird again, and the only way he’s spoken to me in the last couple of days is through post-it notes. God, it’s like I’m the only one living in the twenty-first century among the three of us._

Beep. _I just… Dick. How did you even—with all the things I can do, the things you **could** do, how did you walk away, man? I just—I can’t wrap my head around it. But I’m going to make this count, Dick, I really am, and if you’re interested in joining me, let me know. And not through like fucking voicemail._

Dick sighs. Part of him is tempted to just leave Bruce to take care of this—after all, it was Bruce that saw some potential in this kid, and stubborn, opaque fucking _Bruce_ who couldn’t take five minutes to _talk_ to him before outfitting him with a bodysuit and a god complex and unleashing him onto the world. Then again, if Jason does go out and do something monumentally stupid and Dick doesn’t stop him even though he _could_ … he’s never going to forgive himself.

He stares at the phone. Robin must be on patrol with Batman right now, so… he’ll call Jason first thing in the morning. That seems like a reasonable compromise.

( _you can’t switch off or postpone being responsible, dick_ , says the voice, and Dick really, _really_ wants it to shut the fuck up.)

He flops back onto bed, wriggles into blessedly warm covers, and is just about to nod off when there’s a knock at his door. He bolts upright, does a quick visual sweep for where he’s stashed all of his weapons, then ventures a look through the peephole.

“Sorry if I woke you up,” Kory says, sounding totally insincere.

Dick’s running out of ways to sigh without actually turning into the maudlin heroine that Jason insists he is. He opens the door, and Kory strides in with a toss of her curls and a wide smile.

“Is everything okay?” he asks.

Kory toes off her shoes and settles back on his bed. “Of course not,” she says. “The air conditioning in my room is terrible, and I figured from the way the receptionist was making eyes at you that you’d have the best one out of the four of us, so.”

“So?”

“I’m not going to drive you out of here, Dick! Come on,” she pats the bed next to her, “It’ll be like I’m not even here.”

Dick’s not sure that would ever be possible with Kory, but he complies.

Two minutes of silence pass and Dick’s almost asleep again when Kory says, “It’d be nice if we could score one of those safehouses again. We’ve been motel-hopping for a while. Rachel’s lived off nothing but pizza and chocolate milkshakes and Gar’s figured out pay-per-view.”

Dick mutters indistinctly into his pillow.

“Excuse me?”

Dick lifts his head. “We’ve still got a satanic cult on our tail. ‘Sides, Batman’s pretty much locked me out of his network. I can’t get into one even if I wanted.”

“You… could always call Jason.”

Dick tosses her a baleful glare before dropping his head back onto his pillow. Kory rolls her eyes. “It’s not like we aren’t still fighting some enemy or the other almost every other day, so I can only imagine that you continue to do this because you actually _like_ cockroaches in the bathtub.” She shudders. “Disgusting little—”

“Careful, one of ‘em’s green and you might hurt his feelings.”

Dick almost leaps out of his skin. He jumps to his feet, wild-eyed, only to discover Gar near his door, a towel hastily wrapped around his waist. “Whoa!” he says, stepping back with one palm up. “Sorry! I came in with Kory and I promise I was going to leave without a word if things were going to… you know, get _weird_.”

Dick stares at him.

“You know, like.” Gar waggles his eyebrows, “If you two started to, like, have s—”

“Don’t tell me you actually came in here as a cockroach,” Kory says loudly.

“He was a frog,” Rachel says, from where she’s materialised behind Gar. “And it was my idea, so don’t blame him.”

Dick runs a hand through his hair. This is getting ridiculous. “Is nobody planning on sleeping tonight?”

“I was,” Rachel says, her voice small. “But I couldn’t. And I, um. I didn’t want to come here alone.”

Dick pauses, takes a long, deep breath. It’s been a long, hard few weeks for all of them, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that, sure, Rachel can harness demonic power strong enough to kill the planet, but she’s also _thirteen_ , and she’s tired and scared almost every moment of every day. In another lifetime, Dick can imagine telling her to tough it out because there’s so much out there that’s worse and he can’t protect her from all of them. He keeps thinking he’s left that life behind, but it isn’t as easy as making a single choice, is it? He needs to keep making that choice every day.

He needs to make that choice now.

“Fine,” he says, hands on his hips. “Fine. We’ll… review our situation, tomorrow. Until then, for heaven’s sake, let’s all get some _rest_.”

Rachel beams.

Ten minutes later, Dick is back in bed and everybody else is asleep. Kory’s curled up next to him, hair tickling his nose. Rachel’s on his other side, head on his chest, bracketed by his arm. Gar, dressed in one of Dick’s sweatpants, is further down the bed, sprawled over his legs, head resting on one thigh.

Dick smiles. “Look at us,” he says, a little fondly.

“Titans,” Gar says sleepily. “We’re… we’re _badass_.”

 


End file.
